Time Line of the Universe

The Big Bang Timeline Chain Birth of the Universe

Universe  Event

(starting at the top of the bead chain pictured above)

Age: Zero
Before the Universe was born.
Nothingness
Before the Universe was born, there was no light to be born into. No one knows what was there before the Universe, but it might have been darkest dark and coldest cold. Or maybe, Nothingness.

Age: One Second Old
The Big Bang
The Universe began as a tiny speck, but when it began, the Universe BURST into a bright, dense, hot fireball of energy! Then space exploded inside with unimaginable power.

Age: One Second Old
Particles
In the Big Bang, the Universe created little bits of stuff, called particles and anti-particles. They destroyed each other, but finally, more particles were made that stayed and have been in our Universe ever since. Everything is made of these very ancient particles.

Age: 300,000 (three hundred thousand) Years Old
Cooling Down
As the Universe cooled down after the Big Bang, the temperature became just right to turn particles into atoms. Atoms are like building blocks that the Universe uses to make bigger things.
Soon, the Universe clears and space becomes transparent.

Age: One Billion Years Old
Galaxies
Particles and atoms create a fog in space that clusters and spirals around like hugging arms. The clusters ignite into huge Mother Stars, creating multilple Galaxies in the Universe.

Age: One Billion Years Old and Growing
Mother Stars and Galaxies
For a billion years, Mother Stars and Galaxies develop in the Universe. They sparkle and spin like jewels in the black night. With so many Galaxies in our Universe, for so many billions of years, it is easy to think that there might be life somewhere out there.

Age: Two Billion Years Old and Growing
The Milky Way
Finally, a Mother Star ignites and creates a special Galaxy! Ours! We call it the Milky Way.

Age: Three Billion Years Old And Growing
Black Holes
For five billion years, our Galaxy, the Milky Way, develops. All over the Universe, Galaxies have dense, deep centers that become Black Holes. Black Holes suck in star after star, but the Mother Star in the Milky Way is not sucked in. It’s ignition creates many particles, atoms and elements.

Age: Four Billion Years Old and Growing
Carbon
Our Mother Star creates the element Carbon in our Galaxy. All life in our Galaxy has Carbon in it. Carbon is part of our DNA. (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Age: Five Billion Years Old And Growing
Calcium
Our Mother Star creates the element Calcium in our Galaxy. Calcium is hard and keeps our bones strong.

Age: Six Billion Years Old And Growing
Oxygen
Our Mother Star creates the element Carbon in our Galaxy. Most of life in our Galaxy needs oxygen to breathe or make energy.

Age: Seven Billion Years Old And Growing
Supernova
Our Mother Star dies, ripping herself apart in a huge explosion called a Supernova. With her death, our Solar System and many other systems in our Galaxy will be brought to life.

Age: Seven Billion Years Old And Growing
Stardust
When our Galaxy’s Mother Star goes Supernova, all the particles, atoms, and elements she has created explode all over our Galaxy. Everything in our Galaxy is made out of her Stardust, planets, humans, rocks and trees, and very important, our SUN!

Age: Eight Billion Years Old and Growing
The Sun
Inside the cloud of Stardust created by the Supernova, gravity tugs specks and clumps of Stardust together. Swirling and heating until the Sun flares into life.

Age: Eight Billion Years Old And Growing
Molten Planets
Along with the creation of the Sun, Star Dust gathers into large, dense, hot clusters that become molten planets…Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, the many moons and another planet past Pluto that we only recently discovered.

Age: Eight & ½ Billion Years Old and Growing
Earth
The third planet from the Sun is just at the right temperature to keep an element, Hydrogen. As Earth cools and changes, it becomes just right to create life! Not too hot and not too cold.

Age: Growing Up Takes a Long, Long Time!

Earth Forms

But first, our Earth must transform. The heaviest particles sink to the center of the Earth, creating a core. The lighter elements rise to the Earth’s surface in volcanic magma, creating a crust. Hydrogen rises hot and light, then cools and falls heavily back down to the Earth’s surface, creating the oceans. And after billions of years, life begins on Earth. Conditions were just right for life on Earth because the right particles and elements and the right temperatures existed.